A team of geneticists led by American Craig Venter has created a bacterium from DNA they constructed in a laboratory using only chemicals.

Venter and his team at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, MD, called the first man-made, single-celled life form Synthia when he announced the results of his research Thursday. His study is published in the journal Science...

As usual the hype is great. Really all that they showed was that they could create a working bacterial chromosome. They didn't make a synthetic bacterium; they simply placed this chromosome into an already functioning cell. It's an important advance but it's not the world-shattering breakthrough that the media would like it to be.

I don't get why anyone would think that Ventner is playing God. Did Ventner create ex nihilo? Did Ventner create a new law of physics?

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If you will, you can become all flame.Extra caritatem nulla salus.In order to become whole, take the "I" out of "holiness". सर्वभूतहितἌνω σχῶμεν τὰς καρδίας"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is." -- Mohandas GandhiY dduw bo'r diolch.

Ya, the title in BBC is misleading. I thought they finally put together a few organic molecules to make a cell, i.e. completely from scratch (the protocell so-called). This is just reprogramming the bacteria, only the chromosomes are from scratch.

The pros: We can create bacteria that can help us do things on a large scale that we can't.The cons: We can create bacteria that can partake of the present evolution and reproduce into something we never intended it to.

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Vain existence can never exist, for "unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain." (Psalm 127)

If the faith is unchanged and rock solid, then the gates of Hades never prevailed in the end.